Related papers: Testable and Untestable Aspects of Dark Energy
The physical nature of the currently observed dark energy in the universe is completely unclear, and many different theoretical models co-exist. Nevertheless, if dark energy is produced by vacuum fluctuations then there is a chance to probe…
The experimentally measured spectral density of current noise in Josephson junctions provides direct evidence for the existence of zero-point fluctuations. Assuming that the total vacuum energy associated with these fluctuations cannot…
It has been recently claimed that dark energy can be (and has been) observed in laboratory experiments by measuring the power spectrum $S_I(\omega)$ of the noise current in a resistively shunted Josephson junction and that in new dedicated…
We argue that, for generic string compactifications, dark energy is likely to signal the beginning of the end of our universe, perhaps even through decompactification, with possible implications for the cosmological coincidence problem.…
We argue that a recent discussion of Jetzer and Straumann [Phys. Lett. B 606, 77 (2005)] relating the measured noise spectrum in Josephson junctions to van der Waals forces is incorrect. The measured noise spectrum in Josephson junctions is…
The characterization of dark energy is a central task of cosmology. To go beyond a cosmological constant, we need to introduce at least an equation of state and a sound speed and consider observational tests that involve perturbations. If…
The majority of astronomers and physicists accept the reality of dark energy but also believe it can only be studied indirectly through observation of the motions of galaxies. This paper opens the experimental question of whether it is…
We show that laboratory experiments cannot measure the absolute value of dark energy. All known experiments rely on electromagnetic interactions. They are thus insensitive to particles and fields that interact only weakly with ordinary…
We suggest that experiments based on Josephson junctions, SQUIDS, and coupled Josephson qubits can be used to construct a resonant environment for dark matter axions. We propose experimental setups in which axionic interaction strengths in…
The problem of dark energy arises due to its self-gravitating properties. Therefore explaining vacuum energy may become a question for the realm of quantum gravity, that can be addressed within string theory context. In this talk I…
Although the cosmic concordance cosmology is quite successful in fitting data, fine tuning and coincidence problems apparently weaken it. We review several possibilities to ease its problems, by considering various kinds of dynamical Dark…
A long-standing problem of theoretical physics is the exceptionally small value of the cosmological constant $\Lambda \sim 10^{-120}$ measured in natural Planckian units. Here we derive this tiny number from a toroidal string cosmology…
The nature of dark energy can be probed not only through its equation of state, but also through its microphysics, characterized by the sound speed of perturbations to the dark energy density and pressure. As the sound speed drops below the…
Josephson radiation is a powerful method to probe Majorana zero modes in topological superconductors. Recently, Josephson radiation with half the Josephson frequency has been experimentally observed in a HgTe-based junction, possibly from…
We study the power of upcoming weak lensing surveys to probe dark energy. Dark energy modifies the distance-redshift relation as well as the matter power spectrum, both of which affect the weak lensing convergence power spectrum. Some…
In a recent paper Beck and Mackey [astro-ph/0603397] argue that the argument we gave in our paper [Phys. Lett. B 606, 77 (2005)] to disprove their claim that dark energy can be discovered in the Lab through noise measurements of Josephson…
Vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field induce current fluctuations in resistively shunted Josephson junctions that are measurable in terms of a physical power spectrum. In this paper we investigate under which conditions vacuum…
Inspired by a recent experiment, we study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the $I$-$V$ characteristics of a Josephson junction, coupled to a strongly resistive environment. We obtain analytical results in the limit where the…
We motivate a relation between dark energy and the scale of new physics in weakly coupled string theory. This mixing between infrared and ultraviolet physics leads to a unique corner for real-world phenomenology: barring fine-tunings, we…
The observed galaxy power spectrum acquires relativistic corrections from lightcone effects, and these corrections grow on very large scales. Future galaxy surveys in optical, infrared and radio bands will probe increasingly large…